He made the comments during a recent episode of our podcast series
Comedian Russell Kane has opened up about his battle with internet addiction for the first time, saying that he has been forced to seek psychiatric help over the problem.
Speaking on Episode 5 of JOE.co.uk’s Boys Don’t Cry podcast, Kane said that although up until now he had kept his problem secret from his loved ones, his issues with social media use were comparable to that of a cocaine addict.
🎙️ “I’ve had six counselling sessions for internet addiction, because it’s affecting my life.”@Russell_Kane speaks incredibly candidly on his struggles with technology on #BoysDontCry pic.twitter.com/9wNe7hPm7f
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) July 26, 2018
He said: “I’ll throw something out there. I’ve had six counselling sessions for internet addiction. Six, because it’s affecting my life.
“I haven’t shared this publicly, in fact I don’t think my mum even knows this. I was getting in, say from a gig, going back on a Sunday morning, and all my family’s arrived to a barbecue and I’ll go and get changed.
“But I wasn’t just going up there to get changed, I was going up there because I wanted to refresh my socials and have a few minutes on the phone.
“That is like someone going to the bathroom to do coke. I am no longer in control of how I’m using that machine.”
On the show, Kane was joined by guests Kelly Convey, Ali Official and Tom Ward. Ali also discussed the way in which technology means we now view real-world experiences through the prism of social media.
Ali said: “Everything is vesseled through the phone first. You know on New Year’s Eve, whenever the fireworks go off, what do people do? They view it from the phone.
“We’re taking pictures of what we eat, we’re snapping things we know no one else gives a damn about, but we think they do.
“So, of course… I mean, would you say all of your social media profiles are reflective of who you are as people? Or not? Or do you appropriate it?”
Elsewhere, the group discussed what it’s like to be single in the 21st century, one night stands and some men’s outdated sexual expectations of women.
You can subscribe to Boys Don’t Cry for free, or listen to the show in full below:
Boys Don’t Cry is JOE’s second podcast and follows in the footsteps of the hugely successful ‘Unfiltered with James O’Brien’. Each week Kane and three guests discuss the issues that men spend a life time not talking about: from sobbing in private to mental health, body hair to Brexit.
